Heart-wrenchingly honest and deeply insightful, Denine tells the story of a young mother’s journey of faith with her first-born child, born profoundly handicapped. From the initial discovery of Denine’s condition and her family’s reaction to it, to sleepless nights, hospital stays and countless visits with doctors and therapists, Chris Forster tells her story with bracing insight and unwavering faith. She describes with unflinching honesty the loneliness, despair, and difficult decisions that come along with raising a child with such disabilities. She shares how her daughter Denine’s life, though fraught with tragedy, ultimately brought her to a knowing relationship with God. Brimming with minute descriptions of complex family relationships, deeply personal moments, and authentic, haunting insights into the experience of parenting a child with special needs, Denine serves as a reminder that God knows what is going on in our lives and has a plan for each one of us.

Chris Forster holds a master’s degree in theological studies from McMaster University and is presently working towards her doctorate in Christian counselling. An avid quilter, teacher and inspirational speaker, Chris lives on a dairy farm with her husband Ken. Together they have welcomed many into their 1840’s farmhouse to experience hope and healing through a relationship with God through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. They have built a school in India to educate orphaned children and, Chris has often travelled there to encourage women and is passionate about seeing them succeed through faith in Jesus Christ. Denine, the story of her first-born child, is her first book.